November 6, 2014

Alumnae abroad 2014-15

Eleven Stanford alumnae have signed contracts with professional basketball teams in Europe and Australia for the 2014-15 winter season.

The regular season has begun in all the countries in which Stanford alumnae will be playing.
Three of the Stanford alumnae will also be playing in EuroLeague Women, the premier international professional basketball league in Europe for women’s clubs. EuroLeague play began yesterday (November 5).

These six Stanford alumnae have played abroad in the past few seasons, but are not playing this season:

Jeanette Pohlen ('11) is rehabbing from the torn Achilles tendon she suffered in May 2014.

Jayne Appel ('10) earned her Master's degree in Business and Management while she was playing pro ball. Her Tweets suggest that she has moved to New York for the winter. Perhaps she is beginning a career associated with her MBA or perhaps she is focussing on being an advocate for equality issues and mental health awareness. At any rate, there has been no report of her signing a contract for the 2014-15 season.

Michelle Harrison ('10) is coaching basketball in Denver, but she no longer plays basketball due to recurring serious knee problems,

Candice Wiggins ('08) is ??? There is no post-WNBA schedule info in Candice's website, so I don't know what she is doing now. She went to Israel to play pro ball in late November last season. She may yet show up overseas in 2014-15, but there has been no report of her signing a contract yet.

Brooke Smith ('07) is studying to be a Physicians Assistant at Stanford.

Nicole Powell ('04) is an assistant coach to Kelly Graves at the University of Oregon.

Chiney has made a dazzling start in her overseas career! In Schio's first six games of the regular season, she's tallied four double-doubles (22-16, 22-15, 37-13 and 23-13). She's averaging 25.3 points on 72.8% shooting, 12 rebounds, 4.2 steals, 1.8 blocks and 0.7 assists per game. She leads the Italian Serie A1 league in scoring and steals and is second in rebounds and blocks.

Chiney and Kayle got together when Lucca hosted Schio the second game of the season.

Famila Schio is playing in EuroLeague Women for the seventh consecutive season. Its best finish to-date is seventh place. Its first game is today (November 6).

Chiney Ogwumike is likely to be the go-to player this season. The number one WNBA draft pick is a dominant force in the frontcourt ...

Headline Writer: There is no doubt that Ogwumike is going to be the centrepiece for Schio this season and has already demonstrated this during the first few weeks of the Italian League season. Plus, there is the exciting possibility of her playing against her sister later in the competition who is representing Dynamo Kursk - a headline in itself.

In Just Ten Words: Anything is possible with power of Ogwumike and veteran experience.

Mikaela is the starting power forward for the Flames. In their first four games, she's averaged 10.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists. She hasn't launched any 3-pointers yet, but she's been fouled a lot and has made 68% of her free throws.

Mikaela is enjoying Australia and her new team. She had this to say in an interview on a WNBL (Australian League) radio show:

Q. Was the call to come to Sydney completely cold?
A. I'm not exactly sure how my agent found it out, but once I realized I had a chance to come, I jumped all over it. I definitely wanted to come to Australia. It's a great country. Everyone speaks English so it made the transition a bit easier. So yeah, it was a no-brainer — easy choice.

Q. You and Paris Johnson [San Diego State] are Sydney's imports this year. How is that working out?
A. Paris is awesome. We're roommates. She cooks for me sometimes — she's a good chef. And I love playing with her; we work really well together. So it's been good so far.

Q. Is it different playing here?
A. It's a much quicker game here [than in college]. People like shooting 3s and running a lot, so I think it suits my game a little better. College was fun, but I like this. It's more exciting with the quick run and shoot we play here.

If you want to listen to Mikaela, the radio broadcast is here. Mikaela's interview begins at about 04:15.

Kursk is in southwestern Russia, about 330 miles south of Moscow [map]

Russia is four games into the regular season. Their season began just over two weeks after the FIBA Women's World Chanmpionship, and Nneka got off to a slow start. But she soon picked up the pace and is currently averaging 18.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. She's the leading scorer in the Russian PBL league.

Dynamo Kursk is playing in EuroLeague Women for the first time. It will play its first game next week.

There is excitement with recent USA gold medallist Nnemkadi Ogwumike coming into the power forward slot ...

Headline Writer: Ogwumike is back in EuroLeague Women and could be about to remind us all of the great attitude and displays she posted during her first stint when at CCC Polkowice. She has the ability to be a difference-maker and a real consistent threat.

Lucca is a beautiful old walled city in western Italy, just 11 miles from Pisa [map]

Kayla is the starting power forward for Lucca. After their first five games, she leads the team in scoring (13.8), rebounds (8.2) and blocks (0.6). She has tallied two double-doubles (15-14 and 23-13).

Unfortunately, the team announced on November 2 that Kayla has injured her knee:

The company Basketball Le Mura stated that the response of recent findings that underwent the player Kayla Pedersen showed rupture of the anterior tibial spine consists of the right knee.

The recovery time for this type of injury ranging from 4 to 5 weeks. As soon as the knee permits, Kayla will begin rehabilitation under the supervision of medical staff.

The injury is not an ACL tear. It's an injury to the area where the ACL attaches to the tibia (read more) and is apparently not season-ending.

This is New's eighth season of playing professional basketball in Turkey. She's still in Istanbul, but after six seasons with Fenerbahce, she's now playing for the University team. Her husband, Emre Vatansever (they married this summer at Stanford) is the assistant coach at Galatasaray, which is also in Istanbul.

Universitesi has played two regular season games. New did not play in either one.

Sebnem Kimyacioglu ('05) is in Istanbul, Turkey [map], playing for Galatasaray.

Seb played in Turkey for three seasons after graduating from Stanford. Then she took four seasons off from basketball to study for her law degree. Since earning her degree, she has chosen basketball over a law career, and has returned to Galatasaray for the third consecutive season.

Galatasaray has played two regular season games. Seb only played in the first one, and there's nothing significant to report about her performance.

Galatasaray has returned to FIBA EuroLeague Women for the 15th season. It won the championship last season. It played its first game of this season yesterday and lost to BLMA (Montpelier, France) 59-65; Seb did not play.